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She grew flush and stuttered a bit before shifting around uncomfortably. “Listen, neither one of us wants to be here, so let’s stay out of one another’s way, okay? Six months will be over before you know it, and we can both move on with our lives. Soon enough, we’ll be nothing more than a distant memory to each other.”
“Looking forward to it.”
“Good.”
“Great.”
“Fan-freaking-tastic!”
I rolled my eyes. “Do you always have to get the last word in?”
“No!”
“Good.”
“I’m just saying—”
“Jeez, woman! Can you stop saying anything? You talk too much.”
“You speak too little.”
I went quiet.
She kept talking.
I huffed.
She huffed back dramatically. “Huff!” she shouted.
“What the fuck was that?”
She puffed out her chest. “I huffed at your huffing.”
I considered if this woman was truly unwell, but I didn’t speak back because I didn’t want to give her the opportunity to keep the conversation going.
We were the odd couple, and a part of me doubted she’d be able to go without talking to me over the next six months. I never realized how much of a privilege silence had been in my life until that very moment.
“Be nicer to her,”Connor said.
“What?”
“You heard me. Stop being a dick. You have to break down your barriers a bit, Damian,” Connor commented as we sat in the theater room of the home after dinner. Aaliyah was in bed for the night, and Stella was doing whatever it was that Stella did. Probably dancing under the moon and talking to the ocean or some weird shit.
Connor suggested we watch a movie on the big screen, and I agreed. Though, for the past twenty minutes or so, we’d been trying to figure out how to get the movie to play. He finally gave up and plopped down in one of the ridiculously comfortable chairs and was giving me a scolding.
“My barriers are fine,” I disagreed. “Boundaries are good.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “But coldness is not. Stella’s a nice person.”
“What’s your point?”
“You’re rude to her.”
“I’m not rude. I’m straightforward.”
He laughed. “Your straightforwardness can come off as being rude to most of the world.”
“Why is it my job to control how most of the world feels?”
